Zion's Tree
by VanG Ziggy ZA
Summary: Six hundred years before the famous slueth and his partner began solving crimes in Victoria England, their ancestors meet, and began solving some of their own. This is their first case. Finished.
1. Chapter 1

_**Ziggy's Corner: This is my very first at attempting writing a fan fiction based on Sherlock Holmes; though don't get confused, this is not my first fan fiction period, as you'll find out by clicking on my author's link. After reading TheShoelessOne's second Jack Holmes fiction, and enjoying both it and her first story, I decided to take a chance and write a story of my own. To this end, I dedicate this story to you Erin, I hope you like it. Much like her own series, this story has little to do with Sherlock and Watson themselves. This story takes place a good six hundred years before either man is born, back in the 1300's. It tells the story of Sherlock's ancestor, Ryder Holmes, and Watson's ancestor, Watt Chesterson; the man who would give his future family their famous last name. This is their first case, and if you enjoy this story enough, I might be talked into writing a second story. Enjoy, and remember, review, review, review!**_

ZION'S TREE

It was the middle of winter as the lone man walked down the path. His hair was brown red, and glowed like bronze in the sun's light. He was husky and had a sureness about his step, though he was incredibly thin. In fact the only thing that was big about him was his ears, which looked like saucers that were attached to his head. His legs were long, and brought him ever to his destination.

From time to time he looked behind him, and held his bag he carried tight against his chest as movement caught his eye. He was wanted, and if caught had no doubt that King Edward's thugs would have him slaughtered, burnt at the stake for doing nothing more than defending his life and his faith from the zealots of Muhammad, just as his superiors and a good number of his friends had all been murdered. His shoes were pointed, lined with white fur. His light blue breeches tugged at his legs, tied by a string around his waist and his ankles. His shirt was flame colored, and both pants and shirt were made from fine fustian, a velvet like fabric, gifts from his mother. His mother, father, he could not safety visit them for a while, not without getting them in trouble with the King and or Rome.

"Excuse me, sir," a voice said, making the thirty some year old man leap, his hand reaching for his blade that was no longer attached to his hip. _I forgot I got rid of it after escaping Paris._ His brown eyes turned and stared at the short, aging male who was now matching him step for step. "I didn't mean to bother you sir, but do you know where I could find a place to rest?"

Ryder's eyebrows rose for a moment and he allowed himself to smile. "I do believe that there is an inn, just half an hour away from here." He forced himself not to flinch as the older man looked at his bag and back at him. "That's were I was going."

"Thank goodness I ran into you then," the older man said with a sigh. He was portly, with eyes bluer than aquamarine, and a thick mustache that matched his gray brown hair. "Everything seems to have changed since I've been away."

"How is Scotland?" Ryder asked, allowing him grin yet again. _Here we go again, I just can't seem to help myself._ The older man blinked and took a step back.

"How in the great wide world did you know I had come back from Scotland?" he asked.

"The way you walk," Ryder began, "indicates movements around harsh terrain, possibly near the highland areas of that country. Plus there is the dried mud on your boots. I gather you haven't had time to wash since you left Edwin's division," he gulped as the older male took a step back, hand on a blade that had not been discarded.

"Are you some kind of spy?" the older man asked.

Ryder held his free hand up and shook his head. "Just a loyal citizen of the crown, much like yourself," he explained. "I'm just a little too observant for my own good. Mother always said so anyway."

The older man continued to study him and finally his shoulders dropped in a relaxed motion. "Apologies," he said, exhaling a gust of air from his mouth. "What with the insanity of the days I've been a little on edge." He looked at Ryder and cocked his head. "Is there anything else that gave me away, or is that all?"

"You have a slight Scottish accent," Ryder suggested. "Not too much to be noticeable, which indicates that you're a proper Englishman, who has spent a lot of time in the north country."

The old man shuddered, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Speaking like a Scot? God on high, it's a good thing I was allowed to retire when I was." Ryder laughed and looked at the open distance. "Watt Chesterson," the older man said, extending his hand and arm.

Ryder took it, and although hesitantly, decided to use his own name. "Ryder Holmes."

"Holmes? Interesting name, not many people I know use it," Watt said as they continued to walk.

"It was given to my great grandfather," Ryder explained. "Our family lived on an island centered in a river for a long time, and so this name kind of stuck with us."

"'From the river island,' I see," Watt said with a nod of his head.

They continued to talk, and Ryder learned of more of Watt, of his loyalty to his country and king, and to his friends and family. He had a strong sense of justice, and had been determined to civilize the Scots, and bring them back to the crown in London.

"Sooner or later, they're going to gain their independence," Ryder said.

"How can you say that?" Watt gasped. "They're barbarians, heathens!"

"Most of them are members of the Church, just like us, correct?" the other man nodded and Ryder went on. "The Romans did everything they could to 'civilize' the Visigoths and others near Prussia, but were humbled in the end. Sooner or later we'll see our own northern neighbors gain their freedom too. I'm not saying I'm not loyal to the king, but just stating fact."

It was obvious that Watt didn't like that 'fact', but he let the issue drop. Ryder really couldn't blame him. He had truly wanted to free the Holy Land from the Muslims, but in the end he could see that was never truly going to happen. Not in their life time anyway. They continued to talk and by the time they reached the inn, Ryder had made up his mind that he was very fond of this man who was only eight years his elder, who had a keen memory, a fondness for telling stories, and his determination for justice.

"I'm very sorry, but could you just explain this to us again?" Ryder asked the raven haired, brown eyed woman, who was just a year younger than him.

The woman smiled pleasantly enough, but her eyes were full of worry and fatigue. "I'm afraid it's not the right time to stay here with us, good sirs," she said, her voice high and airy like a fairy's. She wore a brown wool surcoat that covered her arms, shoulders, and ran all the way down to her pale, bare feet.

The inn, called Zion's Inn, wasn't particularly large, but it wasn't shabby either. The walls and floors were made of strong wooden planks, there were a few dozen rugs near the fireplace for someone to lay on, a half a dozen chairs, and two dinning tables. Next to the receptionist desk were the stairs that lead to the rooms, none of them seeming to be occupied.

"Not the right time? Why ever not?" Watt asked studying the woman as she looked at the two of them. "The Scottish aren't likely to come charging over the border, there aren't many bandits around these parts, I don't believe, it _is_ winter so people should be flocking to this inn to get out of the cold, even if its just to warm themselves by the fire, and get something to eat."

"It has nothing to do with any of the circumstances you've just pointed out sir, I assure you," the woman said with a huff. "I just don't want …," she began to say something else, but thought better of it. "I can instruct you to another inn, one closer to the village just east of here, if you'd like."

Ryder raised his eyebrows, stroking his chin and feeling his stubble as if he had just discovered it growing. "I see, well it would take us a good half an hour, perhaps more to make it to the village, if you mean the one I think you do, and unfortunately the night is coming. If there are bandits along the way, we'd be at a very dangerous disadvantage should we be attacked."

"Not to mention the freezing weather could kill us before we reached the village," Watt snapped. "What kind of inn is this, that doesn't want our business?" He pounded his fist, frightening the woman and opened his mouth to say something else, but was stopped by Ryder.

"My friend and I will leave, if you truly want us too, but I'd like to give you one last chance to accept our patronage." He smiled at her warmly and studied her eyes, watching them shift back and forth as if she was unsure what to do. _What are you hiding?_

Finally she shook her head back and forth, more to get the cobwebs out of her mind than anything else, and opened her mouth to speak, jumping as a harsh, bitter, grounding voice berated her from behind. "What are you doing now, _girl?_" It was full of vile and darkness and a tall, elderly, bald man stepped from behind the shadows and glared at the three of them, arching forward until his nose was touching the woman's. "You're not sending more visitors away, are you?"

She trembled, and looked away from him. "I just thought that …," she began, before the back of his hand caught her chin and pushed her away from the counter.

"You are my daughter, you don't think for yourself, you act for the betterment of your family, do you hear me?" he roared. He raised his arm to strike her again, but the girl dashed off behind a door and locked it tight. Then he turned to them and narrowed his eyes.

His skin was paler than her feet; it was almost as if Ryder and Watt were staring at some horrid, ghastly wraith from Hell, rather than an old man. A few blue veins struck out from his pinched face as he turned to look at the younger men, his breathe smelling like rotten fish and other such decay. "You wish to lodge here?" he snapped.

"Yes sir," Ryder said, calm and coolly. He could tell from his friend's shaking shoulders that Watt was ready to explode at this ogre's actions, but shook his head. "Two days at least."

"For the both of you?" he asked again, swaying back and forth as he arched to look at both men. "I suppose we should be able to manage that." He chuckled, sounding more like a donkey than a person, and rubbed his hands together. "The rate for two rooms for a day is one hundred and fifty shillings."

"One hundred and fifty shillings!" Watt could no longer bear being quite. "What in God's glorious name do you call that?" He was pounding his fist against the counter again and narrowed his eyes.

"A fair price," the inn keeper said with a thin, lipless smile that stretched across his face.

"I've seen larger inns that don't even come close to that kind of nonsense," the forty year old barked.

"Well then God speed you to them," the inn keeper growled.

Ryder sighed and pulled out a back of coins. "You're not really going to pay him are you?" Watt choked. "One hundred and fifty shillings a day, for two days? That's three hundred shillings, over three thousand pence!"

"I have the money, it's not necessary to worry about it," Ryder said calmly. "You don't mind if I pay for you too, if you are short, do you?"

Watt's mouth hit the ground and he blinked. Who in the world was this person he had met on the road … a noble? If that was the case, why was he traveling alone? "I can pay for half of it," he grumbled, pulling out his own purse. "I can pay you back when I next get my salary."

"Well then, everything's in order, isn't it?" Ryder asked with a very bright and pleasant smile. He handed the inn keeper, Banning was his name, the money, and the old man snatched from his hands, holding it tight against his chest and nearly wheezing with joy. The next moment he barked for his second daughter, a young teenager named Larke to come and pick up their bags, and show them to their rooms.

Larke's hair wasn't as black as her sister's was, and she was thinner than her sister, but she was also taller than her, and seemed every bit her father's girl. She seemed to prance at the sight of the money and whisked Watt's bag from his hand, jerking as Ryder snapped as she touched his also.

"Forgive me, but I like to do things my own way," he chuckled, with a blush, and held the bag tighter against his chest, shrinking as he felt the curious eyes of the girl, and the shocked eyes of his companion on him. "Really it's not that heavy and I'm not so tired that I can't carry my own belongings with me."

She looked at the bag, her lower lip pouting out as she silently bemoaned not knowing what was so special about it, and then nodded her head, escorting the men to their separate rooms, just across the hall for the each other. "Dinner is about an hour in a half from now, so I suggest you wash up and hurry down. You don't come down in time, that'd your own fault." Then she vanished as the men looked at each other.

"Delightful set of people here," Watt muttered looking at Ryder and his bag, before turning his attention to where the girl disappeared.

Ryder chuckled, thankful that his new friend's eyes were not upon his bag anymore. "Quite." They excused themselves, and closed their doors, washing up from the long weary road, and preparing themselves to eat.

They sat down at one of the two tables and watched as Banning, his two daughters, and a very tall man dressed in velvet clothes with colors as bright as the sun and brilliant like jewels, joined them. The newcomer was Sir Andrew Arthur, a knight from the southern areas of England, who claimed to serve under the king himself, and fought many different campaigns in both Scotland, and France. He was the epiphany of what it meant to be a knight, tall, powerful, nearly seven feet tall, hair as gold as a halo, and eyes as green as jade. He looked at the mark on Hayley's cheek and back at Banning with a glare that sent shivers down the old man's back.

"So, Mr. Holmes, how long have you been traveling?" Sir Andrew asked after taking a bite of salmon and downing a glass of dark wine. His eyes were attached to him, never leaving him since he had walked into the dining area, his face a mixture of shock and intrigue while they ate.

"For a while," the younger man said, avoiding his gaze as best as he could. There was something about that stare that Ryder did not enjoy in the least, apparently Watt felt the same way, as he lurched from the tall man's glare as he was introduced to him.

"Any particular reason you've been traveling for so long?" the giant man asked, biting into another piece of salmon. He smiled and blinked as the other looked at him with falling brows.

"You seem awfully interested in me, sir, may I inquire why?" Ryder took a bite of his own fish and looked

"Banning and his beautiful daughter's don't get very many guests like they used too," Andrew said, leveling him a look. "I just thought it was odd that two men such as yourselves would arrive at the same day, both needing two days worth of boarding, and could pay for it."

"You're point is?" Watt growled. The knight looked at the shorter man and back at Ryder.

"Just curious is all," Andrew said with a bright smile.

"Andrew, please, just let the poor man eat his meal," Hayley sighed, flinching as her father's hand raised up into the arm to smack her to the ground.

"There is no need for that Banning," Sir Andrew said, his voice tolerantly pleasant. The old man jerked at the sound of his voice, and inched back to his seat, peeved, but not wanting to press the issue. "She was quite right; perhaps I was just getting too curious for my own good." He turned to Ryder and smiled, "I apologize sir."

"Thank you, Sir Andrew, it is my pleasure to accept your apology," Holmes said with a relieved grin of his own. The dinner continued almost nearly to the end, without another problem, until the knight finished his dessert and stretched.

"By the way, you seem like a regal man to me, perhaps a noble? What is your position on the recent Church Council?" he leaned back against his chair and put a hand on his cheek.

Ryder would have frozen if he hadn't been so well trained, but still that name, the council. He'd been there, not at the council, but in France during the council. It was one of the darker times in the history of humanity. Anger and sadness both filled his chest, but he was determined not to show it to any of them. _Does he know what I am?_ He smiled and pretended to have no knowledge of it.

"I'm surprised, I thought everyone had heard what the French were pulling," Andrew said, stroking his chin. He shrugged and pushed his food away. "At any rate, I should be going before it gets too dark. My regiment is probably wondering if I'll ever return." He walked up to Hayley and gave her a kiss on her hand, and then walked out."

"I think its time that we should get ready for bed too," Ryder said, swiftly rising to his own feet, ready to be away from prying eyes. He offered to help with the food, but it was declined by Banning, who quickly began placing bowls outside the house, before his daughters chastised him.

"Did you forget again?" Larke asked, her arms flopping in disgust.

"I'm sorry, is there a problem?" Watt asked, looking at the three innkeepers.

"We used to have two dogs, big ones," Hayley said, years ago. "But one night, our mother, may she rest in peace …"

"May the fates be very unkind to her as she was to us," Larke snarled making her sister gasp.

"My wife, Rose, disappeared years ago, just a day before our dogs died for some unknown reason," Banning said, tears slowly running down his cheeks.

"They were barking at the tree behind our inn," Hayley continued. "Then all of the sudden, they shrieked, and disappeared."

"Right before that, Hayley claims she was lights glowing around the tree, as if they were coming up from the ground," Larke teased, ignoring her father's baneful glare.

"There were lights coming from the tree, and from time to time, I still see them," Haley insisted. "Not only that, but I can sometimes hear the barking of our dogs when I see the lights. Once I swore I saw Mabon by the tree, but when I blinked he vanished in air."

"Girls that is enough," growled Banning, sending the young women away to do the dishes. He turned to the two men and sighed. "I am deeply sorry you had to hear that, gentlemen. Their imaginations can get the better of them I'm afraid."

"Of course," Ryder said, mentally recording everything he had heard for future use. "We're all good Christian men here, no one believes in fairy lights or elves anymore."

"True, well then, good night," the elderly man said, and they parted ways.

It was still very dark, and cold as Ryder lay in bed; eyes wide open. He had gone to the window twice in the last fifteen minutes, looking out for the source of the noises, but with the moon covered by clouds, and very little light anywhere, there was nothing but shadows to great him.

A knock on his door made him leap out of bed, his hand clutching his chest and then he frowned, embarrassed at himself for acting so childish. The thirty year old man rose to his feet, opened the door, and saw Watt standing there, looking very ghastly.

"Have you ever heard anything so horrid?" he asked, his lips trembling. "I thought it was wolves at first, but the sounds are too close to the inn, and I didn't think that there were any wolves in this area."

The constant baying and yapping near the back of the inn was growing more and more wild, and for a time, Ryder was positive that Banning would go investigate it, or at least he would have heard Hayley go out to search. But as the seconds seemed to slip by them, it became obvious that there wasn't going to be any such thing.

"They are most definitely not wolves, their not wild enough, or high enough," Ryder said. "Nor are they anymore than two of them which would also indicate that they are not wolves."

"I see why you now have such large ears, my friend," Watt said with a smile, before realizing he had insulted his new friend. "Apologies," he said under his breathe.

"No need to do that right now Watt," Holmes said. "I want to see if this tree out in the back is truly glowing, just as Hayley said."

"That is just preposterous," Watt growled as he followed the taller, younger man. "The very idea is … just so pagan."

"Normally I'd agree with you, but if no one else is going to check this out, then I would very much like to, my curiosity demands it."

"Your curiosity may get you killed one day," Watt snapped as he followed tightly on Ryder's heels.

The younger man only laughed and stroked his hair, "You have no idea how close it's gotten me to the Grim Reaper's Scythe. Still it pushes me forward to see if I can help anyone."

They reached the first floor, and raced forward and toward the back door, where Banning had been putting the dogs' dishes out to eat. Two things caught Ryder's eyes as they got to the door. The fireplace was roaring with fire, a large fire, not one out of control, but one that would allow enormous amounts of heat into the room, and the other was Banning himself.

He was cuddled up in a ball, his eyes wider than the bowls he had tried to put outside. He seemed in the troughs of death, from fright. "The spirits," he said in a harsh, tight voice, "The spirits, have brought this on us!"

"Watt, his hands," Ryder said, bending over to look.

"Yes, he's using prayer beads, a Rosary I hear it's called, a pretty new practice I've been told."

"Yes, yes, of course," Ryder said with a little agitation in his voice as he examined the poor man, looking at his white hands and then pushed him gently aside, so to open the door, and peer out into the dead of night.

"Dear God in Heaven," Watt gasped, looking at a tree that was engulfed in dancing golden light that did indeed seem to come from the ground itself. Near the tree they could hear the dreadful baying of the two dogs that had disappeared and it proved too much for Watt, who slipped back into the house and began saying his own prayers. "How in Heaven's divine name, can you explain those lights coming from the ground?" he whimpered.

"I don't know," Ryder said, urging him to help him move Banning to a small couch, and cover him with a small blanket. "But give me time, and I will."

_**Okay, this is the end of the first chapter. I hope I did a good job! Well on to the second chapter! I hope to have the whole story by the time I update at the last weekend of February. If not, you can expect me to update in either April or May, I don't have direct access to the Internet, and have to use my sister's connection, and coordinate both her family's and mine schedules to work. Anyway I hope you liked this, on to chapter two!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Okay, chapter two, I hope the first chapter is was a good one, and I hope this second was is just as good, if not better. Let's get on with the story!**_

It was close to mid day as Ryder walked through the small village, just east of the inn, to inquire about Banning and his family, about the tree and those dogs barking. The innkeeper claimed he had no knowledge of what had happened just a few hours earlier, not do to mention he would not acknowledge hearing the dogs bark. He claimed to be asleep all night in his bed; that he never woke up on the couch.

He left Watt at the inn, to help with the investigation. The older man hadn't wanted to stay there a moment longer after hearing those dreadful dogs, and seeing the glowing lights, but it seemed his justice would not allow him to abandon Holmes when he needed help. He agreed to sneak around, look at the records he could find, and tell Ryder about them when he came back.

But no one wanted to talk about the inn, which they claimed was cursed. They said that Banning knew this too, but was too greedy to listen to reason. That proved to be the end of his wife, his dogs, and if he wasn't lucky his children too. Ryder sighed; superstition fell upon even more superstition, like a town being built over the ruins of a town that had been built over even older ruins. There were no facts, no shine of light that he had hoped to find. Perhaps if he had used his full name, his rank and stature, there might have been someone who was really to talk, but he doubted it.

He had just decided to turn and leave for the inn when he overheard two men talk in the shadows. "Did you ever find her?"

"No, it was as if some evil force just swept up and pulled her away," a despondent young man said. "Just like all the other girls the last couple of months."

Ryder's curiosity was rising yet again, and though he knew it was dangerous, he decided to approach these men and ask what they were talking about. The younger seemed on the up and up, but the older fellow seemed a bit cautious, and didn't look like he was a law abiding person at all. A few gold coins quickly loosened their tongues before their fingers could loosen their blades at their hips.

He found out that the younger man was out last night, or rather early this morning, with his girlfriend, hoping to sneak a kiss away from the prying, overzealous religious eyes that lived in the village. She decided to play a little game on him, and hide in the dark, dim forest, just outside the village, and as he walked, lead by her giggles as he came closer to her, he could never truly find her. He called out to her, begged her to come back to him, and froze as he heard her scream, the same scream that others in the village had heard for months, actually years. Girl after girl seemed to just vanish, no sign of a struggle, no evidence anyone was out with them, just poof, gone. The village was always guarding against this, they had for over seven years since the nightmare began, but recently the mere weight of young girls between their late teens to early thirties simply grew greater and greater. It had started with Rose, Banning's wife, continued to mere travelers who came near the village, and now it was taking their own women.

There were talks of charging Banning's inn, burning it to the ground in hopes of appeasing whatever supernatural entity it was that was taking the women, but there were fears that such violence on such ground might cause reprisals against them by either the supernatural or the king's men. Ryder listened with all his interest, thanking the two men, and again paying them a few more golden coins to keep their silence about their meeting, and turned to the inn. _So the game turns a little more interesting._

He had just returned to the inn a half hour later, when he noticed that Sir Andrew and Hayley had slipped off to a small garden to the right rear of the inn, for a few moments of alone time themselves. He had no idea it was there, but there it was. He could see flowers of pink and yellow buds had closed up for the winter, and an ever so tiny pond next to the woman's feet, with small orange and white fish swam around. About the lovers spread an elaborate hedge wall that seemed to hug the two of them as it felt their love, its colors mixed green and brown as winter tried to do its damage.

The thirty-two year old man smiled at the sight, but was edgy. He never considered himself a megalomaniac old fashioned fuddy dudddy, like most people in this age were; he found nothing wrong with an unmarried man and his girl to slip away and simply speak, or hold hands, so long as there was no kissing involved. But it sent shivers up his back after hearing the story in the village just a little while ago and seeing a young woman such as Hayley being alone even in broad daylight. True Sir Andrew was large and strong enough to fend off any fiend, but what if she should play a hide and seek trick like the woman in the village had with her boyfriend?

A shuffle of bare feet in the grass, just off his shoulder caused him to turn around, and peer at the younger sister, her eyes narrowing, her jaw tightening as she watched the two lovers sit in a decent winter afternoon, talking about each other, and current affairs. Ryder knew that look; his own sister used to bare it down on him when they were younger and he got something that she wanted from their parents. There was also a bit of mischievousness in her eyes, and a slight curled lip as they spoke about how Sir Andrew had found ants literally in his undergarments, lured to them by the promise of honey that had been liberally dabbed on his garments. Sir Andrew assure Haley that it had to have been someone in his unit, as a practical joke, or to get revenge for one of his harsh orders, but the tiny giggle that escaped Larke's mouth proved otherwise.

He had just decided to walk up to the raven haired sprite, and politely ruin her fun, when another shuffle of movement caught both his ears and his eyes, and this particular sight made every inch of his body tighten. A boy, perhaps just a little older that Larke by three years at least, but no more stood with a rake in his hand, a green coif hat with its strap under his chin, rested on hair a brown as mud, and shadowed eyes browner than mud. He was taller than Larke, but not by much and looked to weigh just a little less than the girl. He was dressed in only a white sleeved vest that stretched from his wrists to his ankles, and wore what looked like a second vest, one without sleeves. His eyes were tight, but his body was moving back and forth, and from time to time he turned his glance at his rake, to the girl. Ryder frowned and narrowed his own eyes. The boy seemed an awful like an Adamist, a gardener, perhaps Banning had hired him to tend this small garden, but he doubted the old man would have liked the way the boy was ogling his daughter, if he could see him that was.

Enough was enough, Ryder decided on a course of action and stomped toward the young man, who shirked toward him, eyes wide as if he saw the devil approach, and fled at top speed through the rest of the inn's land, before making safety to the protection of the woods. As he ran he began crying or chanting, Ryder couldn't make out which, in Gaelic Irish, begging for the help of Brixia, a Celtic goddess. Chills ran up and down Ryder's spine and as he reached the spot where the boy had disappeared, looking at trees, more trees and that was about it. The thirty something knelt down to the dirt, to look for any kind of footprints, and frowned for the umpteenth time this day. There weren't any to be found.

"His name is William," Watt told Ryder as they sat in the older man's room. "I saw him earlier and asked about him. Banning told me he hired him about eight years ago, when the village was going to stone him or something."

"Stone him?" Ryder bolted up and stared the other man in the face.

The older man's room was smaller than Ryder's by twice the size, and was cluttered with papers and quills, where Watt wrote down everything that he had been told, or read. He was an astounding fellow, one whose sense of justice was being trumped by his innate ability to remember anything said, or seen. It made him all the more dear to Ryder, who cursed that bag in his room for excluding this man who was fast becoming his best friend from entering his larger abode; if not for that damn bag and what was within.

"I gather he was a bit eccentric," Watt said with a nod of his head. "In fact he still seems to be so. He insists on blabbering on in Gaelic for one thing, and always eyes the young women."

"So I noticed," Ryder said, explaining what had happened when he tried to question the boy. "How did Banning every get the village to release him into his custody?"

"Bribery, from what I gathered," Watt said. "And the promise to keep the lad away from the village."

"They claim the land here is cursed, and that many women, first travelers, and now their own have gone missing."

"Banning's notes say that his wife, Rose, seemed very distressed about the land, and something else," Watt said. "I managed to sneak into his room when he was out, yelling at his younger daughter about something. Holmes, I did try to find out what it was that she didn't like, but there were many pages out of place, and I had to get out fast when I heard him approach the inn."

Ryder looked at his friend and smiled, oddly, as if he was enjoying hearing what he was. "Things are getting very interesting indeed."

Night had fallen yet again, and Ryder lay in his bed, his ears listening to the yaps and howls of supposedly invisible dogs. During the day, after he and Watt had separated from their discussion, he had gone to the tree, and surveyed the land all around it. Everything seemed right and proper, but there was one odd piece in the field, far left of the tree that hadn't sat right with him. He had examined it, but it turned up to be nothing.

He laid mopping, angry at himself, and angry at his bag for crimpling him in solving this mystery. There was something he had missed, or wouldn't allow him to see, how could William walk around, and leave no footprints? No footprints, was he responsible for the attacks?

As if on clue, a shriek in the night brought him out of his meditation, and he immediately headed down stairs to investigate. Yet again, Watt followed close on his heels, and yet again, Banning was staring out the window, though this time he seemed more alert.

"What is it?" Ryder barked.

"Don't know, and in this dark I don't want to risk my neck for nothing," the old man grumbled. His eyes were fixed on something, on the area where the tree was, and he shivered with dread as the scream could be heard again. Watt growled, lifting the man off his feet and pointed toward the door.

"You hear that? Some poor girl is being tortured, or killed, or raped! You want to leave her to whatever demon has a hold of her?" He waited for an answer, and then dropped the old fool, burst the door open and rushing outside, ignoring Banning's pleas to stay inside.

Ryder followed his friend, and rushed outside, quickly taking a log from the fireplace, whose flames were slowly dimming and dying out, not roaring like they had been the night before, before he went. Bitter cold slammed against the man, who wore only his outer garment, and Ryder slammed his jaw shut, bracing against the chill, but on he went until he found his quarry.

William was nearly foaming at the mouth, his eyes shrinking back into his skull as he shook the girl, who in the light of the torch turned out to be Hayley. He held her by her hair with one hand and her shoulder by the other, and cursed and howled at her in Gaelic, demanding Brixia's vengeance. And behind them was the tree, glowing as brightly as if it had been caught up by the young man's insanity and was joining in his delusions. The ghostly dogs yipped and growled, as if they hadn't been feed in weeks, and were now welcoming blood to come streaming down to the roots of the trees, to suck and lap at the roots as if they were bottles.

Hayley was screaming and pleading for her father's help, pleading for these new shadows to aid her, her chest on fire with fear and pain, her mind racing with the possibility that these shadows could be partners with the insane gardener, that was until the shorter of the two dashed forward and tackled William to the ground, breaking his grip on the woman. The one with the torch turned out to be Ryder Holmes, and he bent down to look at her bruised and swollen face.

"Are you all right?" he asked her calmly. She nodded, and he handed her a branch that he lit with the fire of the torch. "Then get into the inn, as fast as you can. Don't look back." She nodded and raced off, for the safety of her home, her father, and her sister.

As she disappeared Holmes turned to William and Watt, who were still struggling to best one another and he hurried to his friend's side, grabbing the insane boy's naked shoulder, and trying to pin him to the ground. "Lay still," he growled, holding the boy to the ground as a lion pins his prey, "It's all over now, just lay still and perhaps we can help you." The boy howled and cursed in Gaelic, his eyes nothing but white balls of pure energy run on hatred and madness. _Is he insane, possessed, or both? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! _

They continued to try and hold him to the ground as best as they could, but the freezing weather was numbing their bodies and fatigue started to set in. Ryder turned to the house and yelled for Banning to come help, but there was no response, although he could feel the older man's gaze as it burned at his soul. A few minutes later, energy poured through the boy's body again, and he burst forward, breaking free from their collective grasps.

"This will never be over until Brixia has her way," he growled gutturally. "She went to the forbidden land, the holy land of Brixia, she had to be punished." He didn't wait for them to rise up and tackle him again. The boy lifted his head to the moon and bayed like a wolf, before disappearing in a naked streak.

He had gotten away again, and there would be no telling who he might prey on next. Ryder turned to his friend, who was catching his breath, his chest rising and dropping as frozen sweat inched down his face. "Damn it," he grumbled.

They turned and entered the inn, but went no further than a few inches when Banning barred their way. "I warned you not to go outside," he said, his voice cracking.

Their jaws dropped, their eyes bulging. "You're daughter was in the hands of a maniac," Watt hissed, "What would you have had us do?"

"Stay in the house, with me, and the daughter who listens to me," Banning said, slowly turning away. "Did you ever consider that bad things might have resulted because of this? I could have lost both my daughter's tonight."

"Sacrifice one for the other," Watt curled his fingers into a ball, but stopped short of decking Banning because of a calming hand from Ryder. "What do you think Sir Andrew would have thought of that?"

"You don't understand!" Banning growled, his eyes turning deadly as he spun on his feet. His upper lip curled, and showed decaying teeth, before falling as he sighed. "Tomorrow I want you to pack your things and leave. I'll have breakfast for you, but then I don't want to see you ever again. Either of you."

He turned and walked up the stairs into his room, leaving the two men to stand in silent disbelief, in the dark.

_**Kool, you get to read the second chapter too! I somehow doubt I'll have the complete story by the time I go to my sister's this weekend, but maybe I'll have the third chapter too. Wanna know why Ryder is being so secretive about that bag? Wanna know what he did to have nearly all the kings of Europe and the Roman Catholic Church wanting to run him down and then ask questions? The answer comes in chapter three. If I don't write it by this weekend, or on this weekend, look for me to update in May, again sorry, but I don't have control of my updating schedule. And again review, review, review. If I get around fifteen requests for a sequel, I'll write it.**_


	3. Chapter 3

**_Okay, third chapter time, also known in some circles as revelation time. For those of you who aren't history buffs, are just completely in the dark, you'll get to know what is in Ryder's bag, and just exactly what he really is. Oh, and the mystery gets even more interesting this time around. _**

Watt strode through the village, his eyes scanning the buildings, the people watched him, their lips tight and eyes dark. He continued to look for Ryder, listening to the few gasps of whispers as he passed. Brixia's name was mentioned continuously mentioned, people glared in the directions of the inn and where William was supposedly living, and the word, 'the man, Ryder is going with the authorities to capture him.'

"Great, he's left me with the field work," Watt grumbled, but then again he was always a field person, and a very good one at that. Eventually he found out that druids used to live on the land where the inn was built centuries ago, and worshipped the tree by the inn. As the people got used to him, he got even more information about the land. The druids were wiped out by the Christian forces, and vowed revenge.

Banning and his family had appeared from out of no where, and the greedy old man refused to listen to reason, their ignored the village's pleas, or at least the old man had, and built the confounded cursed inn. Now the villagers cursed the man's name as hard as they did Brixia. Interestingly he also found out that right after Banning appeared on the scene, so did a large group of the military, which camped out to supposedly protect the village from the Scottish, but for some reason never did any more than camp out and eat their food.

"What about Sir Andrew?" he asked a man.

"Sir Andrew served in France, but for only three months," the other man replied. "He was sent back for reasons that were never really explained … at least not to us."

Watt thanked the man and paid him well, walking off he thought to himself, "The story is getting very interesting indeed, Ryder." Just as the thought left his mind, a group of men yelled out, and he gazed Ryder and a number of men chase William, totally butt as naked through the village. "Ryder, Ryder!" he called, chasing after the man, who didn't seem to hear him at all.

The foot race was on, as soon as they had approached the mad man's simple mud hut, he squealed like a monkey and dashed off. Soon there was an insane battle to see who's will was greater. Through the tall brown trees, bare of their leaves they raced, dashing too and fro not to smash themselves into the trees, through the forest, through the hills, and right through the village.

William tried to double around, for the safety of his hut, but the militia, and Ryder were too quick minded, and had thought of that possibility. The pace was quick and dangerous, but it was also strategic. Slowly they brought a noose around his throat and the boy had no way, no where to go.

Ryder sighed, he had seen Watt, had wanted to talk to him, but this was more important, he was almost certain that capturing this boy would open the door to the mystery, not solve it necessarily, but it would open the door. Colors flashed in front of his eyes, brown, yellows, blue, some green, and then some white, which he pushed into his bag, hoping the militia had not seen, or else he knew they be after him too. Or worse, they'd give up the chase for the lunatic, and go for him.

They called for the boy to stop running, aimed and took fire, but the weapons they were using were no good for a chase. Ryder frowned, baring his teeth. He wasn't going to allow him to escape a third time, he was going to be brought to justice. He buckled his knees, leaned forward, and charged, leaping as he did, and grabbed William's ankles, his bag bouncing from his back and rolling down to the ground.

Rage built in Ryder, anger and hate he did not know, unreasonable frustration from this mystery, and his own past emerged, and he pulled the boy down, growling fiercely as he did so. "Stay down, you damn fool," he snarled. "Its over, just stay the fuck down!"

With the large amount of men to help him, this time William had no place to go. Hands reached all over, holding him down and slapping iron on him, before lifting him to his knees. The militia was all smiles, each man thanking Ryder for his help.

And standing in the clearing, watching the men drag the screaming twenty year old off, Watt smiled, holding something, but at the time Ryder wasn't registering it. As they left, he approached, and nodded. "I say, Holmes, good job!"

"Thank you, Watt," Ryder said with a great big grin, blinking back tears, "However this mystery is far from solved." When his friend frowned he went on to explain, "The boy is a key, and a major player in this whole sordid affair, but I don't think his capture will end the lights by the tree, the dogs barking, or the women disappearing."

"You don't think that he's behind the kidnappings?" Watt asked, holding out the bag, and stopping to gawk at the white clothes and armor, with the bright red cross on the clothe that slipped out. "What is that?" he asked, his eyes horribly wide. He might have been on the front lines in Scotland for a while, but he heard enough to know what had transpired earlier in the year.

Ryder looked down and paled, his hands reaching for his bag, which was no longer attached to his back. His skin grew wider, and he stepped back, as if to flee. "Watt," he said in a low whisper.

"Molester, devil worshipper," his friend howled, his face twisted in ignorant hate and rage.

"It's nothing like that!" Ryder exploded, trying to snatch the cloth from his friend's hands, but failing miserably.

Watt stepped backward, his eyes dark with hate, "You and your corhorts did nothing but take our countries' monies and make fools of our kings!" His lips were twitching, and as they stared at each other, dark greens and browns seemed to flow between them as if furthering the gap that was now here.

"I did nothing like that, neither did any of my brothers," Ryder cried, his heart pounding.

"You're a Templer! A Templer Knight! You betrayed your Church, your God! For all I know you had something to do with the kidnappings!"

Ryder scowled, his large ears growing hot and red. "Liar, you don't know anything! It's all King Louis' fault! His greed for our land and monies!" He spread his hands out as if he were a saint imploring patience. "Can you really look at me and say all those things, after all we've talked about? You said you thought of yourself a good judge of character, did you ever get a true negative feeling about me?"

"You tricked me with magic!" Watt said, making for his retreat. He turned back to the militia, and looked as if he was going to call them back.

"Think of the girls, Watt," Ryder implored, that got his attention. "This case doesn't make sense, you know that in your heart! If you turn me in, you could continue to look into this whole thing, but wouldn't get very far, and neither would I for that matter, without your aide!" He dropped to his knees and shook his head. "You're not a superstitious man, I know, do you really believe in magic?"

"I believe in Satan," Watt growled. "And I believe my pope. He condemned your order for the very same crimes I just claimed you did."

"I believe in the papacy too, I wouldn't ever abandon it, but God's sake man, use your God given reason, he's only a man, and a pawn of the King of France. Louis might kill him if he doesn't go along with him, or kill thousands of good, loyal Catholics. Think!"

Watt frowned and blinked, he was beginning to waver. He frowned and took a step back forward and backward, weaving in some kind of dance. "But…,"

"Look, you talked with the villagers?"

"Those who would talk with me," he said with a nod.

"And?"

Watt frowned and told him everything knew. "But that doesn't mean anything, I intend to turn you in."

"Then at least wait until we solve this mystery? For Hayley's and Larke's sakes, not to mention any woman who might be threatened by this evil?"

"You give your word you aren't behind this?" his voice was cracking and he stepped toward the Templer Knight.

"May the Lord, Jesus Christ, strike me down, deader than a bear if I were to lie to you," the younger man said. Normally he didn't like taking the Lord's name in vein, but this was a desperate measure, and he was a desperate man wanting justice done.

"Well, to be honest, I thought it a little weird that first Banning would move in, and then a military camp, do you think the old man's with them?"

"He doesn't strike me as a soldier, but there could be something too this mystery that could be larger than the map shows."

Watt made up his mind and didn't think twice. "Until this mystery is solved then," he said, giving the other man the bag back.

"Good show," Ryder said.

**_I know its short, but I really wanted to give you this chapter that explains some things. I don't think I'll get the fourth and fifth chapters written by tomorrow, which is Sunday, and I'll have to go home. So look for these two chapters, which will be larger, by May. Thanks for reading and I hope you are all enjoying this! Review, review, review!_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Ziggy's Corner: Okay chapter four. I'm pleased I finally got some reviews, I thought this series was actually going to go down the tubes. Yes, I know that the notion of boyfriend/ girlfriend did not exist in the thirteen hundreds as we know it, but I was afraid I'd get my readers too lost either way. **_

_**As for the Knights, here's a brief history: They were founded in the eleven hundreds to protect pilgrims while traveling to the Holy Land from bandits and Muslim troops. They were known as the Poor-Fellow Soldiers of Christ and were based in the Temple of Solomon, hence where they got the name, the TEMPLER Knights. They were excellent with money and after being pushed from the Holy Land most of them became bankers. Close to around the beginning of the thirteenth century, kings from around western Europe began seeing all their land and property, gifts given to them by noble pilgrims, and grew jealous. King Louis IV of France (named the Fair for his skin) pressured the pope who was now living in Avagon, France to condemn them. The king had many of them tortured to produce false evidence from false testimony, and the pope eventually gave into pressure, condemning them for homosexual acts, heresy, witchcraft and the such, and their leaders burned at the stakes. None of the accusations were true, but as the Church proclaimed it in the council, King Louis had his reason to take their lands and use their money to further his military ambitions. **_

_**So now that you know about the Knights, you know why Ryder, whose name ironically means knight, is reluctant to use his second name. He doesn't want too many people knowing who he is, because it was around this time that second/last names were starting to come into use, and it would have been easy to put two and two together and realize that Ryder Holmes was one of the Knights. **_

_**Okay, so now that the history lesson is over, on with the story.**_

Ryder and Watt pressed on, homing in on the village, and hopefully some more answers to the mystery. Neither of them spoke a word, and there was most definitely tension in the air as they walked. Watt didn't trust Ryder, not as completely as he had before he found out he was a Templer. They occasionally exchanged glances, but that was about it. It wasn't until they were nearly to the end of their journey when Watt finally spoke.

"You're planning on fleeing once we solve the mystery, if its not solved already, aren't you?"

Ryder clenched his fists and sighed. "What would you do in my position."

"I wouldn't have betrayed the Church, and God," the older man said.

"And I already told you that all those charges are lies," Ryder said, stopping to look at the other man.

"So the Church lies then?" Watt asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ryder gasped and looked of into the distance. How he wished he had all the answers, though he didn't. He was just a man, imperfect. Capable of flaw. Then it hit him, "Look, I will not say the Church tells lies, it was founded by God, so it can not. But it is run be man, and humanity is perfectly capable of telling lies, or even forced or tricked into believing them."

Watt still was not sure, but he favored justice above loyalty to any human man or female, and therefore committed himself to solving this case, after that, he wasn't sure, but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. "There's the village," he nodded in its direction.

"And here comes Sir Andrew," Ryder said with a confused look on his face. The nobleman sprinted toward them as fast as he could, his eyes wide with horror, his skin pale white. "What has happened?"

"Someone let William go!" the man gasped, out of breath. He was shaking from head to foot, and his eyes began to water. "And now Hayley has vanished as well."

Ryder grew rigid. He remembered how the mad man had attacked the girl the night before. "When did this happen?"

"No one can tell," the knight said, his shoulders slumped. Ryder stared at him for a long time, his face turning stiff and hard, but he shook it off. "You helped us catch him before, would you be so kind as to help us again?"

"How can he, if no one knows where William went?" Watt asked.

"The boy is clearly deranged," Andrew snapped, glaring at the other man. "He's bound to misstep, and soon. I figure a clever man as Ryder might be able to help us find any clues."

Ryder stared and then turned, "The sooner we begin our search, the sooner we'll find either one of them. How many men are looking?"

Andrew looked at him and blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

Now Ryder grew pale. "I'm a clever man, Sir Andrew, but certainly you don't expect to find either one of them with just the three of us?"

"No, no of course not," the other man said. He swallowed, studying the ancient forest around the village, its harsh browns, its frosted white snow. "But I don't think it would do to have a large party, don't you agree?"

"I don't," Ryder said, crossing his arms.

"Oh come now, if there are a good number of men out looking for them, William might panic, and who knows what might befall Ms. Hayley? Would you want that on your soul?"

"We don't even know if he even _has_ Hayley," Ryder snapped.

"And we don't know if he _doesn't_," Andrew shot back.

"Gentlemen, please, the longer we stay arguing about it, the more likely the poor lad will have a chance to do something regretful to the girl… if he has her," Watt said.

They looked at him for a moment, and then at each other. Ryder sighed. "He is right I suppose." He looked at the other man and smiled as a way to thank him for snapping him out of his egotistical, paranoid suspicious mind set. Watt shifted and shrugged. "Then let's be on our way."

"It might be wise to go in this direction," Andrew said, pointing away from the village. "He might be headed there."

Just as they turned, a group of armed men walked up to them. "Ryder Holmes?" the heavier armored, bone thin man in the middle of the group asked. He didn't wait for Ryder to answer. "By the authority of the king, and the command of the Holy See, I place you under arrest."

Ryder sighed and looked away. "I don't have time for this again," he hissed. "Gentlemen, a lunatic is out here, and a a young woman is in danger. If you will excuse us, we have very little time to…"

"Ryder Holmes, you are under arrest for crimes of treason against his majesty, and of God," the lead inquisitor snapped. "What happens because of a possessed individual or a peasant girl are of little interest. God willing she will either be safe, or clean of sin that she might enter Heaven. Now come with us." To get his point across, he put a handle on his blade.

"I'm, sorry gentlemen, but this matter will have to wait," Andrew said. "It is most important to find this girl.

"And you are?" the inquisitor asked.

"Sir Andrew Arthur, of his majesty's royal army," he growled.

"Very good, Sir Andrew, you and … I'm assuming you are another knight in his highness' service?" he asked Watt, who nodded. "You and he may continue your search for the girl, and the madman with God's blessings, but Ryder Holmes will come with us right now."

"We don't have time for that," Andrew growled pulling out his own blade. "Now stand aside or we'll cut you down."

"There's no need for that, Sir …," Ryder said, but felt his pulse quicken as the other knight dashed forward and brought his blade down to kill the inquisitor. The dead man's unit quickly responded with force, and was pushed back by the three men, seven dead, all killed by Andrew's blood red blade. Three were injured, and two rushed for the safety of the words.

"Why did you let them go?" Andrew roared, his muscles tightening as Ryder held him back. "Those fools might have cost Hayley her life? Who knows what might have happened to her at the graveyard by now?"

Ryder frowned and took a step back. "Graveyard?"

Andrew looked at the other man and down at his feet. "That's what I heard I mean. The last place she was, before William escaped.

"Then why are we walking away from it, why didn't we turn to it in the first place?" Ryder demanded.

"Because I had some of my men block of the direct route, after the boy escaped. I had hoped that if he was going after her, he would have to get by them." He looked at the younger man. "I just wanted to protect her," he said softer.

"And the path we're taking, it will be quicker?"

"Not completely, but it would have the least amount of guards, if any. If William has any wisdom lodged in that warped mind of his, he'd probably go this way."

Ryder still didn't know why, but one and one was not adding up to two. Every bone in his body begged him to add up all the facts before he acted, but he was determined to save that young girl. "Then let's be off."

It was nearly three hours later, when the men found the girl, huddled in a crypt, weeping silently, her wrists and ankles tied together ceremoniously. The men didn't waste any time in untying the girl, and helped her to her feet. She looked at all three of them, her eyes fearful, but thankful to be free of the cold, gray dusty slab she'd been set on. She gasped and flung herself into Ryder's chest, weeping louder now, as the man took a step back and looked at Watt with a blank expression. For the first time since he had been found out, he caught a glimpse of a smile on the older man's face.

"My dear, how did you get here?" Andrew asked, touching her hand. "Who brought you here?"

Her eyes were distant as she looked at the other man and she shook. "I, I really don't know. I was working in the garden when someone came up from behind me and I felt a hand cover my mouth." She felt Ryder turn his head, but she could not bare to look up. "When I awoke, I was in this dreadful place, and there many people all around me, chanting some cold language."

"Did you get a good look at any of their faces?" Watt asked. The girl simply shook her head.

"They were wearing hoods of some kind, like the ancient druids of our land once did."

"Oh don't be silly dear," Andrew said, approaching her and taking her into his own arms. "You were just scared, and in this horrible place, your mind imagined horrible things."

"Maybe not," Ryder said, looking at the floor. There were many footprints, far more than there should have been if there were only just the three of them, the girl, and her _one_ kidnapper there.

"It's a crypt, Ryder," the other knight scowled. "I'm sure people come in here to bury their dead family members a good portion of the time."

"Don't forget that William was heard praying to pagan, Celtic gods," Watt said.

"A god," Ryder said, "A goddess really, but she was still a Celtic one."

"You two are worse than her," Andrew half chuckled and half scowled. "Come now, let's get out of here before we all begin to see Lucifer himself crawl out from one of these caskets!"

They turned to leave, only Ryder remained. The crypt was cold, black, with shadows owning their own shadows. There were cobwebs everywhere, and the golden edges of the coffins were now brass, and muddy brown. The walls oozed moss, and the sounds of rats, who had chewed their way through the coffins, could be heard inside some of the boxes, chewing of bones and decaying meat. It was the perfect place for someone to scare a poor girl into keeping away from a dark secret. However; that's not what caught Ryder's eyes. He looked down where the girl had been laid, and ran his fingers over the edge of the slab, bringing them up to his nose, and running them around each other. Ryder tapped his cheek, and then turned to leave.

"Thank you both so much for saving my precious little girl," Banning said, holding Hayley very tightly. "And thank you too sir," he said turning to Andrew. "I don't know what I would have done without the three of you."

_First he forbids us to aid her when William attacks her last night, and then he is completely blown over for us rescuing her in the crypt._ Ryder frowned, his mind racing to try and decipher what it all could mean. "It is not a problem," Ryder said with a nod.

"Please, you are too kind," Banning said, tears running down his cheeks, as he held his daughter. Even the girl seemed surprised by her father's devotion. "I insist that you both stay the night." Ryder caught slight movement on the man's part, and turned his head, slightly.

Watt went to open his mouth, his skin turning red as he took a step toward the other man, but a quick response from Ryder stopped him, and he turned to Banning. "It is our please, thank you for your graciousness."

They said their good nights, and went to their rooms, escorted by the grateful Hayley, who then quickly melted into the darkness with cheeks streaked with tears. "What was that about?" Watt asked, turning to the other man.

"As I said, there is more here that meets the eye," Ryder said, pacing his room his eyes focused inward at the clues he gathered. "I don't think that William is the key here."

"Yes, you've said so before, I as I've gone through my notes, perhaps there _is _something to that after all." He rested and looked at the other man. "So what is it that we have to do now?"

"As the noose tightens, so the will of our mysterious conspirators weaken," Ryder said. "I think we've been asking too many questions and getting too close to what someone does not want us to find. More to the point, I think who ever might be behind this is slipping, getting despirate that we're not backing down."

"How so?" Watt asked, his interest finally piqued.

"How is it that the Inquisitor knew where to find me? I haven't exactly been completely open."

"How is it then that you know that someone's behind that?"

"I don't, if I had gone with the man, perhaps I could have learned more, but he arrived just a little to conveniently for me to actually accept to go with him, and ask any questions. Then of course he was killed."

"Sir Andrew was acting out of pure emotion, the fear of losing Hayley or not catching William," Watt said, writing a few things down. "I don't condone what he did, but I can understand it, if nothing else."

"I agree," Ryder said, pacing more anxiously. "Still there are things that are just out of reach." He smiled, "Still there are a few things that I've gathered." He quickly told his friend what he had discovered, and watched as Watt wrote them down, his wrist and hand moving quickly.

"Interesting, but do you think that could solve this case?"

"I really could not say, but it was indeed a strong hinge that could burst this door open."

As they talked, it grew darker, colder, and soon they could hear the howling of the dogs yet again.

"Those things are getting on my nerves," Watt growled.

"Yes, and apparently they've attracted someone else," Ryder said as the sound of the back door opened and shut, Banning's heavy footsteps hurrying to the door, and stopping. "Perhaps we better see what's going on."

Larke edged out of the door and towards the tree brimming with light. The dogs howling brought the hairs on the back of her neck straight up, but she was determined to do something her own sister could not do. She'd solve this mystery. Then she'd be father's favorite, instead of that goody two shoes. She could hear her father yell at her to get back, his eyes wide with horror, as was his voice.

The girl pressed on, forcing herself to move forward, until she was in the middle of the yard. She was surrounded by the lights, 'spirit lights' supposedly, but she was positive there was an answer out here. There was no such thing as ghosts, or fairies, angels, demons, etc. Heaven, Hell, they were concepts invented by stingy old men who couldn't have fun anymore, and so did no want anyone else to either. Larke began stomping her feet at the ground, sure she could block out the light, sure she could find a reason for them.

"Child, stop this nonsense," her father howled at her.

She giggled, "Father, don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to me." She opened her mouth to state she was perfectly okay, when out of the darkness, a hooded figure approached, and grabbed the girl, her screams of terror joining the ghostly dogs' howls of sorrow.

_**And we'll end it there, and get ready for the conclusion! Do you know who's the culprit? What was Ryder talking about, what on earth did he find? Everything will be solved come the next chapter.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Ziggy's Corner: And now for the final chapter. I hope you've all enjoyed this story. I had to switch from word processor to html format when submitting, because for some reason, won't allow me to submit normally, and text format looks kind of stupid. Anyway if you've enjoyed my characters, let me know, because I have a few ideas for them in some sequels. And on that note, on with the final chapter.**_

By the time Ryder and Watt got to the back door, Banning was gone, charging out after his little girl apparently. Andrew was holding Hayley tightly, having spent the night along with the two men, the two of them looking at each other, and at these two men. Ryder frowned, turned toward the door and began to walk out.

"Wait," the older knight called out. "Banning didn't want us to go out there tonight."

Ryder and Watt stopped and looked at Andrew. "That girl is out there, with some kind of maniac," Watt said. "You can't expect us to just stay here and do nothing."

"Her father is out there, isn't he?" He asked the girl who looked up doe eyed in his eyes. She looked up at him and just stared.

"I'm sorry, but that's not in my nature to just walk away from people in trouble," Ryder said.

"Is that why you ran away from your own comrades in France?" Andrew asked with a slight smirk.

Ryder frowned, his body tightened as he watched the girl look at all of them. "Watt, let's go."

"Don't be stupid, Ryder Holmes," Andrew suggested. "It would not be wise to anger Banning. He seems to have known who you are."

Ryder blinked and cocked his head, as the other man produced a letter in the old man's writing, telling the Inquisitor where he could find the Templar. Ryder's eyes felt his body tighten, and he looked at the girl. "That doesn't matter. That man's child is in danger, and I'm going to help her." He looked at Watt, who nodded.

Ignoring Andrew's pleas to stay in the house, the two men bolted, and quickly made their way to the tree, and the lights, which seemed to be dimming. With a small candle in each man's hand, they looked, for the struggle, for footprints, where there were none. Ryder began pacing the ground, listening for the ever growing fainter yips of the ghostly dogs. He wallked back and forth, his eyes focusing on the ground under the tree.

"I never noticed this, but is the ground warmer around this area, than the others?" Watt asked, feeling a patch of dead grass, brown dirt. His friend frowned, and cocked his head, until he was shoulder with shoulder with the other man.

"This is very interesting," Ryder said, as his hands ran through the dirt. He looked up at the inn, but saw no lights there, no warm glow. Andrew had shut the inn tight, in obedience to Banning's superstitious requests. Or did he? Ryder looked down at the ground and continued to feel it until he nodded. "I think I have it, though I don't know how I could have missed it before."

"What is it?" Watt asked.

"Feel here," Ryder said, moving his hand over the patch of earth he was studying. His friend followed his example and frowned.

"It feels hallow, but how can that be?"

"Not too hallow," Ryder said, knocking on the ground. There was a harsh, wooden sound. "There's a cavern down there, and I'm willing to bet its lit by torches."

"That explains the light around the tree," Watt said, "but what is it being used for? And how is the light being snuffed out?"

"I don't think it is, but I do think its being covered up with planks of some kind. Then whoever is behind this simply pulls the planks away when they want the people to think the spirits are about." He turned toward the house. "Did you happened to take your knife or sword like I asked you to before we came down the stairs?" His friend nodded. "Good, follow the patch of hallow dirt. If my gut is right, you'll be led to a cave of some kind. Go there, and you'll find out what happened to Larke."

"But what are you going to do?" Watt asked with a frown.

"I'm going back to the mastermind of all this, and have a few words with him.

Watt frowned, "But Banning …,"

Ryder shook his head, "The look in the girl's eyes, how he knew that I was noble, and though it looked like Banning's hand writing, it was done in a manner befitting someone of higher learning."

"I don't think Banning is stupid," Watt said.

"Neither do I, which is why I think you'll find him in the cave holding the girl captive."

"You think he's part of this?"

"He has shown a lot of fear, more so for a person respecting a knight, or a stronger man."

"You think it's Sir Andrew who's responsible for this?"

"Yes, I know it is. He claimed he didn't know where Hayley was when he came to us, but then said she was at the cemetery. Plus the dirt I told you about."

"Yes, you said you saw it on him when he came running up, and also on the slab Hayley was laying on," Watt said with a nod.

"And it was on Banning's hands too. I thought at first it was frost, but after I saw more of the stuff, I realized the connection." He smiled, "Now come Watt, the games afoot!" The words startled him even more than his friend.

"What are you talking about now?"

He shrugged. "My apologies, it just seemed like the right thing to say at this second," he laughed, "who knows? Perhaps centuries will come when others of my family say the same thing."

They laughed, and Watt went off, with thoughts and pictures of generations of Holmes talking about games and feet, as they had began to solve their riddles. He smiled, his affection for this man growing wider. He hurried along, and continued to follow the path until he was lead to a small cave. He smiled again, "Ryder, you are a man of great cleverness," he chuckled. He took out his blade, and slowly crept closer to its opening.

"Just who might you be?" a harsh voice barked at him from his side. Watt turned and blinked at the sight which now met his eyes.

It didn't take him long to get back into the inn, and when he did, everything he had surmised over the night finally added up and proved to be correct. Sir Andrew Arthur held the girl to his waist, his knife pressing against her throat. For a second the cowardly man showed horror and confusion, and then he scowled. "I figured you'd be long gone by now, either following the trail by the tree, or fearing for your safety after finding out that Banning knew who you were."

"But it wasn't Banning who wrote that letter, was it Sir Andrew?" Ryder asked, inching nearer to the villain, who pulled the blade closer to the girl's throat. "You are very good at copying a person's handwriting."

He smiled. "It's a gift," he answered with a shrug.

"So why are you doing this?" he demanded.

"Perhaps I gave you too much credit." He sounded genuinely disappointed. "I did it for the land." Hayley gave a mixed squeak of disgust and terror, and he pressed the blade closer to her to shut her up. "With my marriage to Hayley, I would be able to use the land to raise an army."

Ryder moved slightly, praying to God he would not be noticed. "An army?"

"I had originally planned on using the base openingly, once I had enough members, but then that fool Banning showed up, and built his inn. Of course it was only a matter of reminding the people of the village of the sacredness of the old ways of our people of that land, and I had him eating from my hand. Banning has, shall we say, a very healthy respect for the old ways, Ryder Holmes. Unlike you and the king, who might call it, paganistic superstitions." Andrew's upper lip curled up in a cruel smile. "I saw my opportunity to bring the fear of the old ways back to the people, and recruit a much larger army by hiding under his land, than by drilling on it." He laughed.

Ryder moved an inch again, letting his muscles weaken and loosen, so there would be no stiff movements that would give him away. "You're planning on overthrowing the kingdom."

Andrew scoffed and backed up a bit. "I would never dream of that, dear boy!" He chuckled again, a laugh that seemed like it would come from a demon's mouth. "No, Ryder, not the kingdom, but the new order, I plan on overthrowing the new religion! And returning the druids to the proper place of leadership where they belong!"

"The land would still belong to Banning, and I have a feeling he'd deny the king's men any knowledge of this," Ryder said, pushing the villain to disclose more of his plot.

"He's telling lies from the start," Hayley complained.

"No child, I'm not! But Ryder is right about him denying anything in the case of an unsuccessful coup. That's why I appealed to his greed. By allowing us to operate, and by keeping quite, we paid him handsomely! In fact, it was your father, dear Hayley who kidnapped you in the first place, as well as your sister."

"You're lying!" she cried. "Father warned us never to go out there! He warned Larke to come back, and then he rushed outside to…,"

"Take her to the underground passageway you have under the backyard, isn't that right, Andrew?" Ryder snapped. He was awarded with a wicked laugh.

"But the land is my father's, even all the greed in the world wouldn't let him give up the land!" she protested.

"Which is why I wooed you," he whispered into her ear, grinning at her disgust. "And he would gain even more financially with our marriage."

"I would never let you do such a heinous thing using my father's land," she shouted, gasping as he put the blade to her throat closer, the steel starting to pierce her flesh. "Besides, William was the one to attack me, he …,"

"Was my perfect little pawn," Andrew cackled, his eyes turning predatory, his facial features bestial. He cocked his head, and Ryder could see something oozing on the floor in the other room. Careful examination showed a body laying there. "Right before the girl went out, by my advice I should add, the fool came to capture Hayley here again. I ordered him to go back, but unfortunately his indoctrination seems to have been too complete. I had no choice but to kill him."

"You're a monster," Hayley growled.

"Shut up girl!" Andrew growled back. He turned to Ryder. "I have money, there's no need for us to fight. In fact, with your talents, why not join me?"

"No thank you," the Templar snapped.

"You are sure? Being a Templar you are already wanted, it would be easy to change sides?" He smiled, only to growl as the other shook his head. "Then what about a bribe?" again Ryder shook his head. Andrew gripped the girl tighter and stepped further back. "Then what about if I were to tell the authorities yet again who you are and where you can be found?"

"Let her go, Andrew," Ryder growled.

"Sir Andrew," the villain hissed. The darkness seemed to creep up from everywhere as the stand off continued. He smiled then, and tossed her away, knocking her head against the floor and sending her into unconsciousness. "I hope she doesn't die, my plans will have to slip backwards for a while if that is the case."

He turned to Ryder, and took out his bloody blade, the life force of the Inquisitor and his goons still drying on it, as well as William's. "I seem to be gaining quite a collection with this thing," he chuckled. His eyes twinkled with the thought of combat, and he rushed forward. Ryder met him head on, their blades creating sparks as they danced and circled around one another. "You are quite good with that weapon."

"You don't get to be a knight just because you are pretty," Ryder smiled. They crossed their blades again and pulled away. Circling, he knew he had to keep his bearings about him, neither of them could see very well in the dark, but that would make it easy for Andrew to use dirty tactics if given the chance. He closed his eyes and listened, remembering his training while he was in Solomon's Temple. It was dark there too, and sometimes he and his friends would practice night movements by walking through the halls, listening to nothing more than their own comrades' breath. He heard it, and then dodged as numerous fire pokers were hurled at him. He readied himself for another attack and dodged the rushing man, hearing glass break, and Andrew groan. He frowned, and made his way to the dying flames of the fire place, caught fire to a large stick, and approached a gurgling sound. There he found Andrew, impaled on shards of glass from the window, blood oozing from his chest and body.

He looked at Ryder, growled and tried to swing his blade, but found his strength ebbing, and finally his fingers peeled away one by one as his eyes glazed over.

Nearly five hours later, Ryder had taken care of Hayley, cleaned up the bodies and heard the sounds of footsteps, nearing the inn. His heart pounded, as did his mind. Watt, he had forgotten about Watt! He hurried toward the door, and saw in the growing light his friend, and six heavily armed men approaching. The Templar in him ordered him to flee, obviously he'd been betrayed. The human in him refused to allow him to flee. Watt had proved to be loyal and a good friend. He waited for them and then greeted them at the door. It was then when he saw Larke behind them, and two dogs behind her.

"The local sheriff thought things were weird, and came to the same conclusion you did," Watt said. "Of course they couldn't find out where the lair was, until they saw me moving, following the path."

"He was moving so slow, we figured he was part of the cult. Luckily one of the men in my company had served with him, and vouched for him," the sheriff said. "We raided the lair, and capture most of the cultists, though a good many of them were killed." They also told him about two elderly dogs, the same dogs that were the pets of the girls and had disappeared, stolen after Sir Andrew had kidnapped their mother. Ever since, when the cultists walked through the corridors, the dogs would bark, and their sound would come from the ground, right above the tree.

"Including my father," Larke said, looking down at her feet. "He died trying to murder me." One of the soldiers escorted her into the house, with orders not to lay a hand on her, or her sister.

"That poor girl," the sheriff said. He sighed, and listened to Ryder's accounts and nodded. "I thought that man was odd. He appeared out of no where one day, and claimed he had been ordered to serve in this area. I discovered his nobility, and just assumed that he was speaking the truth, rather than listen to my conscious."

"What will happen now?" Ryder asked.

"Now the traitors that survived can look forward to his majesty's brand of justice," the sheriff said with grim satisfaction. "As for the girls, it does not appear that they were any way involved with this plot, so they're free to stay here, and run this inn if they so wish."

Ryder nodded with a smile. That was awfully open minded of him. No demand that they marry or lose the building and the land, no kicking them off because they were women. "That seems fair."

"And what of you, Ryder Holmes?" the sheriff asked. "I'm impressed by your sense of justice though I should not be surprised." He sighed sadly, "However, I've heard your name before. I know what you are, and I really can not allow you to stay in my jurisdiction."

"You are saying you are willing to let me walk?" Ryder asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I never believed the lies that French snot came up with," the other man said, stroking his mustache. "I can't say the same for the king however. So yes, I'm willing to turn a blind eye and let you walk, so long as you leave this county for a while."

Ryder smiled and shook the other man's hand. How he wished there could be more open minded people who would listen to the Church as a whole, and not the will of one man sitting on a crown who planned to play the Holy Father like a puppet. Maybe if the pope could or would returned to Rome, things might change. "I promise you, nothing out of Providence will let me disrespect this kindness you have given me."

Ryder walked down the open road, his mind racing with what had transpired the last three days, when someone called him from behind and he turned to see Watt hurrying as fast as he could to catch up with his friend. "Would you like some company for a while?" he asked with a smile.

"You'd travel with a wanted man?" Ryder asked, smiling himself.

"You know after I came back from Scotland, I believed all my adventures were over, and I was ready for a boring life of just sitting around ready for the Lord to take me," Watt said. "After this, however; I must say that my blood is racing for another good mystery to run into."

"It could be that this was our one and only adventure," Ryder said. "And what of your family?"

"I didn't say travel with you forever," Watt said with a laugh. "Perhaps until we reach my small town, St. Paul. And if we never get into an adventure, well then we can still enjoy the company."

"Very well, I would enjoy you're company. Something tells me that this is indeed Providence as well."

"The next thing you will tell me is that centuries from now our future relatives will be banding together to solve mysteries," Watt said with a laugh.

"You never know," Ryder said with a nod of his head.

_**And that's it! Tell me what you think! Like I said, I have ideas for other adventures with these characters, so let me know if you want to read them too! Thanks for reading, and review, review, REVIEW!**_


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